The Best French Toast Recipe / Browned Butter Caramelised French Toast Recipe

I say this is the best French toast recipe, but to be honest, the best French toast recipe is the one you personally enjoy the most. For me, this is the one.

I make my browned butter caramelised French toast super thick, and it's almost like a dessert. It'd make a fancy brunch for sure, especially served with clotted cream and berries.

What makes it the best French toast for me is that it's very generously soaked in an egg batter rather than just dipped and the egg batter is enriched with cream as well as milk.

You could also call this a pain perdu recipe. French toast is basically pain perdu, meaning 'lost bread' in French. I've noticed a few high-end London restaurants serving pain perdu as a dessert – when it's actually the same as French toast. Giving dishes (in this case, technically correct) French names just makes them seem fancier. In reality, pain perdu was traditionally and originally a way to use up stale bread, hence the 'lost bread' name.

But I'm neither French nor a fancy restaurant, so I'm naming this one French toast.

You can also watch me make this on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for French Toast

2 eggs
1 tbsp caster sugar
Pinch of salt
40ml double cream
50ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 of a loaf of brioche (preferably a bit stale and dry)
A little vegetable oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Ingredients for Toppings:

1 tsp caster sugar
Berries
Clotted cream
Maple syrup

Method:

1. Beat the eggs, 1 tbsp caster sugar, salt, cream, milk and vanilla extract together until well combined.

2. Soak the brioche for a couple of minutes on one side, rotate to dip all sides, flip over and continue to soak for another hour.

3. Lightly oil and heat a pan on medium heat. Drop the butter in and melt. Swirl pan occasionally and cook the butter for a couple of minutes, until it only just starts going golden brown and smelling nutty.

4. Carefully lower in the soaked brioche, cover and cook on a medium heat for five minutes. Then flip, cover again and cook for three minutes on the other side.

5. Sear for a few seconds on all sides and plate up. Sprinkle over the 1 tsp sugar and caramelise with a cook's blowtorch. Or, pop the French toast on a foil-lined tray and caramelise under the grill for a minute or two.

6. Serve with berries, clotted cream and maple syrup.

Enjoy, and have fun.